What Part Do Belief’s Play?

Prior to doing the Wheel of Life (see the resources tab of this blog) exercise you may not have realized the beliefs and assumptions you were making about yourself and others in the world and how you expected things to be.  The clearer you are about what you value, believe in, and want, the happier and more effective you will be in having this in your life.  

Your beliefs are about how you think things really are, what you think is really true for yourself, and what you expect as likely consequences is what will follow from your behavior.   Although it may not feel this way, many of the limitations you face in your life are self-imposed.  What you belief about yourself can keep you locked behind your fears or thrust you forward into living your dreams.

Once you start creating and taking action you will notice your own passion and synergy.  More of what you want shows up simply by becoming aware of your current choices and choosing to take simple, yet powerful steps that help you change your life.  

Post courtesy of:  Michele Corey/Advanced Approach

Email: michele@advanced-approach.com

Website: http://www.advanced-approach.com

Blog:  http://advanced-approach.blogs.com/knee_deep

Phone: 206-525-8709

 For more information on the Living in Alignment (Wheel of Life) see the “Resource” tab of this blog.

Everyone knows that when you live in alignment with what you most value and want in your life the result is you have more passion, feel more content, and feel more alive.  The more you live in alignment with your core values the easier it is to continue to consciously make these type of choices and take actions to support them.

How can you create more passion in your life?  The Wheel Of Life Exercise is a simple yet powerful way to do this.  In this exercise, you first rank your level of satisfaction in eight foundational pillars of your life.  In the second part of the exercise, you acknowledge what is true about these areas by using a simple set of questions.  The third part of the exercise is to create simple yet powerful forward moving actions that allow you to spend your time in alignment with what you belief is most important.  Out of doing this you create more passion in life and will find yourself wondering why you didn’t take these simple steps earlier.

The eight foundational pillars are Health & Fitness, Family & Friends, Spirituality, Finance, Personal Learning & Achievement, Philanthropic Contribution, Environment and Career/Job.

Feel free to change these labels to include the values that resonate with you.  For example, the word Finance may not have significance for you but Wealth or Money does.  For Family & Friends you could choose Romance, Significant Other or, simply Family. Instead of Personal Learning & Achievement, your focus may be Playtime, Hobbies, Fun, or Social Life – which are still a personal focus on you.

The point of this exercise is not to help you have all the areas be a 10 at one time and in perfect balance. Although that would be great, it is not realistic to most.  The point is to acknowledge where you are in each of these foundational pillars, and to create and take actions that help you create a more passionate life one simple step at a time.

Taking actions that are in alignment with what you most want in life will create a deep inner happiness.  Many feel more spiritually connected.  The first step may be the hardest.  Once you start the forward moving action it gets easier as well as others seem to help you have what you are asking for in your life.  This is called alignment, passion and synergy, although some may call the entire process “life balance.”

Post courtesy of:  Michele Corey/Advanced Approach

Email: michele@advanced-approach.com

Website: http://www.advanced-approach.com

Blog:  http://advanced-approach.blogs.com/knee_deep

Phone: 206-525-8709

 For more information on the Living in Alignment (Wheel of Life) see the “Resource” tab of this blog.

Eileen Kollmeyer

My Wise Guides

Email:  eileenk@mywiseguides.com

Phone:  206-369-5305

www.mywiseguides.com

Have you thought about this?

The quality of healthcare provided to you is often dependent on the amount of information you provide your doctors. For anyone desiring the best possible care, make sure you have all your up-to-date medical information available when you visit your healthcare professional. Having your complete health information in a binder/notebook will empower you to take an active role in your medical care.

Your health information is an invaluable asset to you, your family, and the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals that are involved with your treatment and care. As you may have experienced, getting access to all your past medical history can be a slow, annoying, expensive and baffling process. 

You organize your bills, your social life, your financial records so isn’t it time to manage and organize your health information?

Eileen Kollmeyer

My Wise Guides

Email:  eileenk@mywiseguides.com

Phone:  206-369-5305

www.mywiseguides.com

The New Year is upon us. It is a time not to dwell on what should have been, but rather a time to look ahead with new expectations.

Part of being organized is taking time to plan. Having a plan for the various aspects of your life (family, job, hobbies, care giving) helps you stay on task, better manage your time, be more productive and more efficiently accomplish your goals. Creating a “to do” list of necessary tasks that are further broken down into short- and long-term goals, helps you to focus on the bigger picture and maintain a balance with everything that you must do in your daily life.

When my mother was dying I had the realization that having a plan for organizing your health and that of your family members is the most important of all. We don’t want to think about being sick until we are sick and then it might be hard to find and organize all your health files at that time. Accidents happen unexpectedly and you can be diagnosed with something without warning. Be prepared for the unexpected will pay great off when you need it the most, so take some time now to compile a health care notebook with the following information.

1.  Start with your medical history including past illnesses, diseases or conditions and who treated you. Approximate the dates, what the treatment was and the outcome. List allergies, surgical history, implants and prosthetics, blood type and immunizations.

2.  Prepare a list of emergency contacts with various ways to reach them. File the information in a binder and keep it where it is easily accessed. Taking the time to compile this information now, when all is calm, could turn out to be a life-saving activity.

3.  Create a list of current medications including over-the-counter, nutritional, herbal and vitamin supplements. List all medical personnel who treat you with detailed contact information.

Health organizing does not only pertain to written information. Having a plan for promoting healthy activities such as exercise, eating well and creating an environment that is less toxic and less cluttered will put you well on the way to reaching your goals for optimum health.

Keep that notebook up-to-date and take it with you to your health care appointments.  You can purchase a My Wise Guides HealthFile with simple to use forms that make organizing easy!  Go to the “products” tab of this blog for more information.  

Eileen Kollmeyer

My Wise Guides

Email:  eileenk@mywiseguides.com

Phone:  206-369-5305

www.mywiseguides.com

Along with Patient rights we have responsibilities.  Here are the responsibilities developed by the federal government.

Patient Responsibilities

o    Take responsibility for maximizing healthy habits, such as exercising, not smoking, and eating a healthy diet.

o    Become involved in specific health care decisions.

o    Work collaboratively with health care providers in developing and carrying out agreed-upon treatment plans.

o    Disclose relevant information and clearly communicate wants and needs.

o    Use the health plan’s internal complaint and appeal process to address concerns that may arise.

o    Avoid knowingly spreading disease.

o    Recognize the reality of risks and limits of the science of medical care and the human fallibility of the health care professional.

o    Be aware of a health care provider’s obligation to be reasonably efficient and equitable in providing care to other patients and the community.

o    Become knowledgeable about his or her health plan coverage and health plan options (when available) including all covered benefits, limitations and exclusions, rules regarding use of information, and the process to appeal coverage decisions.

o    Show respect for other patients and health workers.

o    Make a good-faith effort to meet financial obligations.

o    Abide by administrative and operational procedures of the health plans and health care providers.

o    Report wrongdoing and fraud to appropriate resources or legal authorities.

Eileen Kollmeyer

My Wise Guides

Email:  eileenk@mywiseguides.com

Phone:  206-369-5305

www.mywiseguides.com

In March 1998, the Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality issued its final report, which included the Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. The Commission was appointed by President Bill Clinton, and co-chaired by Donna Shalala, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.  The following, Consumer Bill of Rights, was developed by the federal government.

Patient Rights

o    You have the right to receive accurate and easily understood information about your health plan, health care professionals, and health care facilities. If you speak another language, have a physical or mental disability, or just don’t understand something, assistance will be provided so you can make informed health care decisions.

o    You have the right to a choice of health care providers that is sufficient to provide you with access to appropriate high-quality health care.

o    If you have severe pain, an injury, or sudden illness that convinces you that your health is in serious jeopardy, you have the right to receive screening and stabilization emergency services whenever and wherever needed, without prior authorization or financial penalty.

o    You have the right to know all your treatment options and to participate in decisions about your care. Parents, guardians, members, or other individuals that you designate can represent you if you cannot make your own decisions.

o    You have the right to considerate, respectful and nondiscriminatory care from your doctors, health plan representatives, and other health care providers.

o    You have the right to talk in confidence with health care providers and to have your health care information protected. You also have the right to review and copy your own medical record and request that your physician amend your record if it is not accurate, relevant, or complete.

o    You have the right to a fair, fast and objective review of any complaint you have against your health plan, doctors, hospitals or other health care personnel. This includes complaints about waiting times, operating hours, the conduct of health care personnel, and the adequacy of health care facilities.

Eileen Kollmeyer

My Wise Guides

Email:  eileenk@mywiseguides.com

Phone:  206-369-5305

www.mywiseguides.com

In a world overflowing with PDA’s, laptops, and cell phones, instant communication does not necessarily translate into instant information that is both accurate and up-to-date. Having information about yourself and your health that is organized, readily available, and accessible to you and key people in your life can be, for most of us, an overwhelming challenge, and a monumental task.

To meet that challenge… Welcome to My Wise Guide, an organizing tool that can help you be the expert you need to be about your own health.  Whether it is a resource for knowing when you had your last tetanus shot, which medication caused you to have an allergic reaction or how many tests you or your spouse have had in the past 5 years, My Wise Guide provides you an organized repository for keeping this kind of information where you can actually find it when you need it.

Just like the doctors, laboratory technicians and radiologists you’ve seen over the years, all have a “file” on you, YOU need to have a file on yourself.  Receiving good healthcare in today’s world demands that you keep track of essential information about your health history so that YOU can be a PARTNER in the medical team you have entrusted with your care and well being.

Eileen Kollmeyer

My Wise Guides

Email:  eileenk@mywiseguides.com

Phone:  206-369-5305

www.mywiseguides.com

Benjamin Franklin said it best in 1789:

“Early to bed and early to rise, makes people healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

Yes indeed, old Ben certainly could make life sound simple. If only we could all count on having health, wealth and wisdom just by getting enough sleep every night… But as our society marches deeper into the 21st Century, we are more likely to get up earlier and stay up later than Benjamin Franklin could have ever imagined. 

Though technology has never been more advanced, it seems to have become an almost full-time job just to manage our own lives.  The good news is that as a nation, we are living longer, healthier lives.  The downside of that good news is that taking care of our health is much more complicated than it once was.  We can no longer expect the old general practitioner, or “primary care physician” to maneuver us through the landscape of our own healthcare needs.

That landscape is riddled with HMO’s, PPO’s, mail order drug prescription programs, annual deductibles, physician referral procedures, in and outpatient surgical facilities and we haven’t even gotten to the government yet.  That would /could be: disability, workers’ compensation, Medicare.  And that is just scratching the surface.

The staggering amount of information we need to keep track of today is enough to make our collective blood pressure skyrocket.  And that is why a big part of taking care of ourselves today is to having ready access to critical information about our health both past and present.

Eileen Kollmeyer

My Wise Guides

Email:  eileenk@mywiseguides.com

Phone:  206-369-5305

www.mywiseguides.com

I want to dedicate the My Wise Guides Health File, and the inspiration for creating it, to my late mother Philomena Kavanagh West. (November 22, 1914 – January 16, 1993). “Phyllis”, as she was known by her friends, was an Irish “war bride” who came to the U.S. in 1946 after the end of World War II.

She delighted us all with her “blarney”, but there was no woman on earth who was less organized. When she lay dying in a hospital bed, while I ran around frantically looking for critical information about her medications and recent medical history, I felt very torn about not being at her side where I really wanted to be.

Now if the time comes for me to be in that same bed, my husband and my children will be able to go directly to my Wise Guide and find out anything they need to know about my health history. Purchase and use My Wise Guides HealthFile as a gift to yourself and to all that you love. It may be better than “healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

Eileen Kollmeyer

My Wise Guides

Email:  eileenk@mywiseguides.com

Phone:  206-369-5305

www.mywiseguides.com

I have some exciting news to share!  For several years I’ve been inspired by a dream that has touched my heart and soul.  Someone I greatly admire said recently “don’t die with your music still inside you.” With that thought I made a decision and took a leap of faith to make my dream a reality.  I’m delighted to introduce you to my new company – My Wise Guides – which provides tools to organize and gain instant access to your life’s critical information.  The first product available is Health File™. 

The Story Behind Health File

If you’re like me your health information is scattered in file boxes in my attic as well as three different states.  Besides that my doctor, dentist, gynecologist, and optometrist all have different files on me.  No one has my complete history so because of that I have a responsibility to take an active role in managing my own healthcare.  By being involved and having better self knowledge I will be able to share an accurate picture of my health history with all my health care providers.  

Why Health File™ is Important

We take responsibility for all other areas of our lives – our careers, bills, cars and the list goes on…  It only makes sense to focus attention on our health and the health of our family.  It not only makes sense but it is critical to our wellbeing to have a clear picture of our health history.  Our health care practioners have only one small glimpse of us – the file they have in their particular office. It is up to you to have your complete history at your fingertips. 

The Solution

How confident are you that in case of an emergency you, or a loved one, would be able to access your entire medical history in a short time?  If you recognize yourself as someone who could benefit from this and other products by My Wise Guides, I invite you to visit www.mywiseguides.com

Be sure to join the mailing list so you can be the first to hear about new products as they are released. 

If you feel this product is incredibly beneficial share this information with your family and friends.  Peace of mind is priceless. 

Eileen Kollmeyer

My Wise Guides

Email:  eileenk@mywiseguides.com

Phone:  206-369-5305

www.mywiseguides.com